The Time Has Run Out
by AjAwkwardsauce
Summary: Tori Vega is starting at a new school, Hollywood Arts, a school for the insanely talented. Today is the day she is supposed to meet her soul mate. "If a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate, would you want to know?"
1. Seconds

**"_If a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate, would you want to know?"_**

Tori Vega sat on her couch watching tv and eating cereal as she waited for her sister to be done with her rigorous morning routine and take her to school. She was extremely nervous. She was going to a new school, a school for the insanely talented, and she didn't think she belonged there. She was also nervous because the ink on the skin of her wrist was down to 00y 000d 01h 33m 28s. She was supposed to meet her soul mate today. She only knew a handful of people who met their soul mates in high school, her parents included.

She wondered what he would look like. Maybe he would be tall, muscular and handsome. Her mind wandered as she imagined her soul mate.

"Hi, Sweetheart, are you nervous for your first day at Hollywood Arts?" Holly Vega asked her daughter. Tori shook her head from side to side slowly.

"I don't think so." She held up her right arm. "I'm more nervous to meet them." She said.

"Oh! I'm so excited for you. Meeting them will be one of the most uplifting moments of your life. I remember, the day you were born, seeing that you were going to be only sixteen when you met your soul mate and wondering if you would be ready." Holly smiled and ran her fingers through her daughter's hair.

"Do you think I'm ready?" Tori looked up at her mother.

"I'm sure you are." Holly kissed Tori's forehead. Tori smiled and nodded.

"Thanks, Mom." Seconds later Trina Vega trampled down the steps and into the living room.

"Come on Tori, we're going to be late!" Trina ran out of the house. Tori stood up and her mom hugged her.

"Good luck." She offered, tears welling in her eyes as she watched her baby girl walk out the door.

Tori checked her wrist again as she walked through the doors of Hollywood Arts.

00y 000d 00h 50m 47s. She was so close to meeting him.

"See, it's just a high school!" Trina turned to face her and smile. Tori looked around confused.

"Uh, this is not just a high school, these kids are all artsy, and creative, and talented, and I'm just normal." She said defeated.

"It's okay!" Her sister grabbed her arm and gave her a smile of encouragement. "There's nothing wrong with being average. Anyways you're not alone. I got your back." She said. A girl ran up excitedly to Trina's side. She yelled something Tori couldn't understand and her sister ran off in the opposite direction, leaving Tori behind.

"I'm alone!" Tori yelled after Trina.

A girl with crimped bright red hair walked down the stairs and passed Tori.

"Hey! Um- can you tell me-" Tori yelled to get the girl's attention.

"Oh my God! You're Tori right?" The exuberant red head said.

"Uh huh."

"You were so awesome in the big showcase." The girl smiled.

"Awww," Tori smiled back.

"My name's Cat." The girl said.

"Like the animal." Tori giggled.

"What's the supposed to mean!" Cat yelled offended.

"Nothing, I – uh – love cats." She said worried.

"Oh, me too, they're so cute!" Cat walked away leaving Tori alone again. A boy with a mess of curls on his head entered the school holding a puppet in his arms.

"Hey!" Tori reached out as he passed her. The boy stopped and looked at her nervously.

"Hey, hi!" He said.

"Can you tell me where Mr. Sikowitz's class is?" Tori asked reading over her schedule. Her wrist caught her attention and the numbers surprised her.

00y 000d 00h 46m 21s

Time felt like it was moving so much faster for her. She was afraid she would miss her soul mate. The boy situated the puppet in his arms.

"Down the hall, swing a left at the water fountain, second door on the right." He spoke through his puppet. Tori stared at him confused.

"Uh, thank you." She said walking passed him and pushing her bangs into place.

"What ever it takes, cupcake." The boy said through is puppet. Tori turned back and glanced at him. The shy boy shook his head and she walked away annoyed.

She stepped into Mr. Sikowitz's classroom looking at her wrist.

00y 000d 00h 10m 00s

She would find her soul mate in her first class of the day. She pushed her schedule into her bag and dropped it beside a chair before turning around and running straight into someone.

"Oh my gosh!" She yelled as the boy grunted and dropped his coffee.

"It's cool!" He tried to consol her as she rubbed at his shirt where the coffee stain was.

"Here, I think it's coming out." She said desperately.

"You're making it worse, actually." He told her. She slowed down and stared at him. Was he her soul mate? The numbers on her wrist said no.

00y 000d 00h 00m 05s

But they were close.

A girl with dark clothes and long brown hair pushed the door open and stopped with her eyes wide.

"Oh my God." The girl said loudly. Tori stepped away from the boy whose shirt she had been rubbing and glanced at her wrist.

00y 000d 00h 00m 00s

"It's not what it looks like." The boy moved towards the girl but she pushed past him.

"Shut up, Beck." She ordered and moved closer to Tori and grabbed her wrist. Beck looked hurt until he realized what she was doing. He glanced at his own wrist and shrugged. Tori noticed that he still had 600 days until he would meet his soul mate. The girl held Tori's arm tightly and pushed their wrists together. When she pulled back the numbers on Tori's wrist faded away slowly until the digits that had been on her skin for nearly seventeen years were gone.

"You're my soul mate." She said in shock. Tori smiled.

"Hi, I'm Tori."

"I'm Jade."


	2. Minutes

Tori made her way up to her front door with Jade walking behind her silently. She had never known anyone personally who had a soul mate of the same sex. She had seen it on tv a lot with celebrities and it was the main plot of many popular movies. Yet, she had never met someone it had happened to, and now, it was happening to her. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob and turned to face Jade.

"Okay, I just met you,"

"And this is crazy." Jade interrupted with a smile.

"_and_ I don't know what offends you, but I just want to let you know that I have no idea how my parents will react to this." She said. Jade smirked.

"I have a temper, but I'm not Cat, I don't get offended easily." She replied. Tori smiled.

"Good. I don't think we'll have a problem with them." She pushed the door open and yanked on Jade's hand.

"Mom! Dad! Come here, I have someone I want you to meet!" Tori yelled. Holly ran down the stairs at the sound of her daughter's voice.

"Is he here, is he here?" She asked excitedly before coming to stop a few feet from the duo. David Vega walked into the living room from the kitchen and stopped beside his wife.

"_She_ is here." Tori said pulling Jade closer to her.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Vega." She waved slightly. "It's nice to meet you." She said through the grin plastered on her face. It would never do to upset your soul mate's family.

"Oh," Holly squeaked bringing her hands together. David stared in silence. Tori looked back and forth between her mother and father before clearing her voice.

"This is Jade, my soul mate." Tori's smile faltered.

"Well, hello, Dear, hmmm." Holly stepped forward and scrutinized both girls.

"I've never known this to happen, personally." She said circling the girls like a hawk. Tori reached for Jade's hand and intertwined their fingers to calm herself.

"Well, with all due respect, it has happened." Jade responded quietly. David stepped next to his wife.

"Are you happy?" He asked Tori. Tori nodded.

"Yes, from what I've seen from her today, I genuinely like Jade, a lot." She answered.

"Then we are happy for you. It may just take some getting used to. When you expect your daughter to come home with a male soul mate for sixteen years it's a bit of a shock for her to come home with a girl." He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly before turning to Jade.

"And you will be getting the same talk a boy would have gotten." He gestured to the couches. Jade looked back and forth between the sofa and Tori's father.

"Okay." She let go of Tori's hand and sat down. Tori groaned.

"Dad!" David sat across from Jade and Tori slid beside her.

"It needs to be done Tori." He said.

"Okay, you will need to take care of her. If you hurt her, I will, uh," he cleared his throat, "hurt you." He paused.

"Hmm, maybe this may need some revision." He contemplated. Jade smiled.

"It's okay, I understand, treat her like a lady, be respectful, care for her, love her, blah blah, blah, right?" She said. "My dad had the same speech picked out for my soul mate." She chuckled.

"He doesn't even know about Tori yet." She shrugged.

"Well, it seems like you understand what I'm saying." David smiled. "You've got my permission to date my daughter." He said. Jade laughed.

"Thanks, I guess." She said. Tori smirked and grabbed Jade's hand.

"Come on, let's go see your parents." Tori said. Jade shrugged indifferently.

"Alright."

Jade didn't say a word as she drove to her house, the only sound in the car was the music playing in the background. Tori stared out the window and glanced at Jade out of the corner of her eye.

"Is this going to be a regular thing?" Jade asked turning onto a back road.

"What?" Tori asked.

"Staring at me?" Jade said without looking at the other girl. Tori blushed and shrugged.

"Probably." She answered. Jade laughed.

"Okay, good to know." She pulled into her driveway.

"I expect this might be very painful for you." Jade said before getting out of her car and leaving Tori to ponder exactly what she meant. She shook her head and threw the door open, Jade was probably just messing with her, she thought as she jogged to catch up with her soul mate. As soon as they stepped through the door Jade's mother was sitting on a bar stool at a counter. She turned around and looked at the two girls.

"Jade, who is this?" Her mother asked sounding worried.

"This is Tori, she is my soul mate." Jade answered without meeting her mother's eye.

"Oh my!" She slid from her seat with a grin on her face. "Oh, I am so happy for you!" She hurried over and wrapped her arms tightly around Tori.

"This is just marvelous!" She beamed.

"My mother has wanted me to have a girl for a soul mate since I took my first steps." Jade rolled her eyes.

"It's wonderful for celebrities, you have no idea how many famous people just _pretend_ and I have a real-live gay daughter. How lucky can one person get?" She hugged Tori again.

"Okay, okay, get off, I don't want you breaking her." Jade shooed her mother back.

"I'll go get your father! He'll be thrilled about this news!" Her mother hurried off.

"No he won't!" Jade called after the woman.

"My father hates me, and the fact that I act and sing and write." She stretched out on the tan sofa in the middle of her living room.

"And now he's going to hate me because I'm gay." She sighed. "Oh, but it's marvelous!" She imitated her mother's voice and groaned. Tori lifted Jade's legs and sat down before putting them on her lap.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Jade replied. "Directly. I mean, I guess, if you had died I wouldn't have to deal with this." She considered out loud. Tori gasped.

"Don't say that! It's tragic if your soul mate dies before you meet them." Tori shuddered. "I used to have nightmares about it happening."

"I never really thought about it. Not seriously." Jade confessed.

"How do you feel about me?" Tori asked suddenly. "Are you upset that I'm a girl?" Jade didn't answer right away and when Tori glanced over at her face her eyes were closed.

"No." She said with conviction. "I think I'm going to love you a lot." She smirked. Tori smiled.

"I think the same thing about you." Tori replied softly.

"I don't want her in this house!" A man's voice roared from the basement. "Get her out! I don't care where, I don't want her here anymore!" Jade's mother walked back into the living room wringing her hands.

"Uh, Jade, maybe you should go stay at your girlfriend's house for the night." She said distractedly. Jade scoffed.

"You're kicking me out?" She snapped. Her mom shook her head.

"No, no, um, we just have to get some things straightened out here, and it would be better…"

"If I were gone?" Jade snapped.

"Yes." Her mother answered timidly.

"Fine!" Jade kicked her legs off of Tori and went up the stairs, taking two at a time.

"I'm sorry, dear, what was your name?" The woman asked.

"Tori." She answered.

"I'm sorry, Tori, I really am happy for Jade and you." She smiled sadly.

"Thanks." Tori averted her gaze. "I guess."

XXXXX

"She has to stay in the guest room, and if I find out that she spends the night in your room, there will be consequences." Tori's dad stood with his arms crossed as Jade looked around the room where she would be staying.

"Dad! We just met!" Tori cried with embarrassment. Jade laughed.

"Thanks Mr. Vega. There really isn't anything I could say to repay you." She sat on her bed.

"It's alright, Jade, if you need anything, Holly and I are right down the hall, and you know where Tori's room is." He said before walking out of the room. Tori sat on the bed beside Jade.

"I'm sorry." She said simply. Jade nodded before tears started to slip down her face.

"I swear to God, you're only seeing this because you're my soul mate, if you tell anyone…" She sobbed. "I don't know what I'll do, but you won't like it." Tori stood up and crossed the room in a few steps. She closed the door and hurried back to Jade's side.

"It's going to be okay, I don't know how, but things will get better." She wrapped her arms around the other girl.

"I promise."

"You can't promise things you can't control."

"I _promise_." Tori said, a plan already forming in her head.


	3. Hours

**Chapter three! Yay! Thank you for all the comments and the support. You are wonderful!**

A week had passed and Jade was still staying at Tori's house. The good thing about their situation was that it allowed the two girls to get to know each other a lot better. Tori found out about Jade's love for scissors quickly, and Jade realized that Tori was very difficult to wake up in the morning.

"Tori." Jade said as she knocked on her bedroom door. "You have to get ready for school, or I'm not taking you." She knocked again but there was no answer. She sighed and opened the door slowly. The curtains were pulled and the room was completely dark.

"Tori get your butt out of bed." Jade ordered and watched as the lump under the blankets turned over.

"We're not doing this every morning." Jade said walking over to the bed and grabbing the blankets. In one swift motion she jerked the covers down to her ankles and Tori's eyes snapped open.

"_Jade_." She whined. She curled up into a ball and Jade looked over her body. She was wearing a pink tee shirt and a pair of black panties. Jade smiled.

"Get up." Jade demanded as she pushed Tori off the other side of her bed. The tan girl landed with a shriek and stood up quickly.

"What is your problem?" She yelled.

"Oh, calm down, Vega, just get ready for school. If you're not in my car in twenty minutes I will leave without you." Jade turned around and walked to the door. "Then you'll have to ride with your sister."

Twenty minutes later, Jade was sitting in her car when Tori stumbled out the front door. She reached Jade's car only to find the passenger side locked. Jade rolled the window down and leaned over.

"Need a ride?" She asked coyly.

"Please don't make me go with my sister." Tori begged.

"Get in." Jade laughed and unlocked the door. Tori quickly yanked open the door and slipped into the car.

"Thanks." Tori pecked Jade on the cheek as her seatbelt clicked into place. Jade smirked.

"No problem."

Tori was fitting in quickly at Hollywood Arts and she made fast friends with Jade's group. The boy she had been rubbing on her first day of school was Beck, he had over two years until he would find his soul mate and he had been dating Jade to pass the time. Tori had already met Andre when he came over to help her sister write a song for the Big Showcase at HA. Tori realized that Jade was actually friends with the flighty girl named Cat she met on her first day and she was surprised that Jade could handle the silly red-head. Another member of the group was the ventriloquist boy with the curly hair and awkward personality.

They accepted Tori and congratulated Jade on finding such a talented soulmate. Jade rolled her eyes at their words and the days passed swiftly from there.

"Hey Tori!" Cat bounded over to her locker as she spun the combination.

"Oh, hi Cat." Tori smiled and swung the door open.

"Did you figure out how to get Jade's dad to accept you?" Cat twirled a lock of bright red hair around her finger.

"Yeah, I actually did think of an idea, I just need to talk to Lane. Can you keep Jade busy without telling her what I'm doing?" Tori implored. Cat nodded eagerly.

"Sure I can!" She burst out.

"Well, good, because here she comes." Tori closed her locker as Jade walked up to her side.

"Hey, babe, I will see you in Sikowitz's, I gotta go do something." Tori told Jade and ambled off in the opposite direction. Jade's brows pulled together in confusion and she turned to Cat.

"Do you know what she's doing?" Jade asked.

"Yes!" Cat grinned. "Wait, no." She said quickly.

"_Cat_," Jade's voice took on a dangerously sweet tone, "what do you know?"

"Nothing!" Cat squeaked.

"You know something." Jade bobbed her head and pressed her hands against the wall of lockers, one on either side of Cat's head. "Tell me what you know."

"I don't know anything!" She pleaded.

"Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Jade leaned forward.

"The easy way." Cat answered doubtfully.

"Then tell me what Tori is doing?" Jade ordered.

"She is talking to Lane about how to get your dad to like her!" Cat spilled. Jade's arms dropped to her sides and she stepped away from the smaller girl.

"Dammit Tori." She cursed to herself. The bell signaling first period rang and Jade grumbled as she made her way to Sikowitz's class.

Tori ran in breathing heavily just as the bell rang.

"I'm not late!" She yelled.

"Nobody cares if you're late or not." Jade yanked on her arm and pulled her down into the seat beside her. Sikowitz stated class normally and Jade tilted her body so that she was almost against Tori.

"He won't like you, you know?" She whispered harshly.

"You don't even know what I'm planning." Tori responded.

"No matter what you do, he won't accept you." She told her.

"I'm not trying to get him to like me. I want him to respect you." Tori murmured.

"Ha!" Jade blurted out loudly.

"Jade! Tori! Up on the stage!" Sikowitz's ordered as he stepped down from the stage. Tori stood, followed by Jade, and both girls walked onto the platform.

"Acting challenge; Jade you're an angry man and Tori you are an apologizing woman. The starting letter is J, go!" Sikowitz clapped his hands together. Jade cleared her throat.

"Just how do you expect to get him to respect me?" Jade used her manly voice.

"Kitkats? Everyone likes them." Tori whined.

"Listen, no matter what you do he will always hate me." Jade screamed

"Maybe you just need to give him a chance." Tori suggested pleadingly.

"Not a chance in hell." Jade said.

"Oh, come on, just hear me out."

"Please drop it." Jade stomped her foot.

"Quit being so negative!"

"Really can't do that, negativity is my strong suit." Jade grinned.

"So you don't care about how I feel?"

"That is not what I said!" Jade walked over to the other side of the stage.

"Unfortunately, that is what I am hearing." Tori sighed.

"Very clever, turning this around on me." Jade cocked her head to the side.

"Why don't you just tell me how you really feel?"

"X-rays couldn't show how much I love you." Jade said suddenly very sincere.

"You love me?" Tori's eyes widened.

"Yeah." Jade smiled.

"Whoops! The next letter was – "

"Z. I know." Jade pulled Tori to her and kissed her. The class 'awwwwed' and clapped before Sikowitz told the girls to sit down. They returned to their seats.

"I'll explain everything to you at lunch." Tori promised.

"Okay." Jade reached into her lap and intertwined their fingers.


	4. Days

**I was going to add more to this chapter but I can't think of anything else right now but I _love_ this chapter. I will explain why I love it so much at the end. **

Tori was adjusting to her new classes and she finally had her schedule memorized, but for some reason she always got lost on the way to lunch. Today was no different and she ran into a tall boy with short black hair.

"Are you lost?" He asked and threw his arm over her shoulders.

"Uh, yeah, I'm trying to get to the Asphalt Café." Tori stepped out of his grasp.

"I'll show you where it is." He settled his arm around her again.

"Hey, Daniels, get your hands off my girl." Jade said as she walked around the corner.

"Your girl?" He scoffed.

"Yeah," Jade held her wrist up to him and smirked. "My girl." She reiterated. Ryder chuckled and looked Tori up and down.

"You're a dyke?" He questioned loudly. Tori's mouth dropped open in shock. She had never heard the term used so derogatively before.

"Well, yes." She answered. Jade took a step closer, knowing the kind of guy Ryder Daniels was, she didn't like Tori being so close to him. Ryder burst out laughing.

"That is hilarious, I mean, she at least _looks_ like one, but you, hmmmm." He eyed her body again. "You sure don't." Tori glared at Ryder before shoving him away.

"Hey! My girlfriend is beautiful, besides, how do you look like a sexual attraction?" Tori said angrily.

"You're just a little confused," Ryder grinned, "I can help you figure everything out." He purred running his finger underneath her chin.

"I said, get your hands off my girl!" Jade yelled as she pulled her fist back and punched him in the jaw. He fell back a few steps and glowered at her.

"Jade, I need to speak to you in my office." Lane suddenly drew attention to himself on the other side of the hallway. Jade sighed and locked eyes with Tori before following Lane to his office.

"Jade, you know that violence is never accepted in this school." He said after a few moments of silence when they sat down.

"I know, he was just saying really rude things to me and my girlfriend." Jade answered. Lane nodded.

"I understand," he said in a tone that demonstrated that he understood very little, "but that does not excuse your little outburst back there."

"He called me a dyke!" Jade insisted. Lane looked sympathetic.

"Now, come on Jade, you know that term no longer means something bad." Lane reasoned. Jade's mouth dropped open.

"That doesn't _matter_, he said it in a way that made it an insult." Jade was at the edge of her seat.

"Calm down, you're punishment is going to be a three day suspension and a weeks worth of detention when you return." He said as he started to fill out the necessary paperwork.

"Wait, I'm in trouble and he's getting off with nothing?" She burst out.

"He didn't do anything wrong. You are being punished because you hit him and that is not allowed." Lane looked up angrily at her.

"I'm not saying that I shouldn't be punished but he was harassing my girlfriend! That should warrant some kind of punishment."

"At this point, this will be a he-said she-said kind of predicament and that means I cannot do anything about it." Lane deadpanned.

"But Tori can stand up for herself!"

"Let it go, take your punishment and _let it go_." Lane advised as he turned the papers around to face Jade. He extended his hand out to give her a pen. Jade pursed her lips and stared at the writing utensil. A small drop of excess ink clung to the tip and when she went to sign her name it looked as if her signature was bleeding.

Outside in the Asphalt Café it was sunny and warm. The day was nice and Tori was sitting at lunch waiting for Jade to show up when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"Oh my God," She exhaled as she read the text message.

"What is it?" Beck asked. Andre looked up from his lunch with concern.

"Jade got suspended." Tori said.

"What for?" Andre questioned.

"Punching Ryder Daniels in the face." She answered typing back her response quickly and pushing her phone back into her jeans. No one at the table looked surprised.

"Why did she punch him?" Robbie asked.

"He was bugging me. He called us dykes, it was so _weird_…" She shook her head as she glanced down at her food in front of her. "I've never heard someone say that word and mean something bad."

"How did you know it was meant to be bad? I mean," Andre paused, "you _are_ dykes." He said.

"I know _that_, but you weren't there. You didn't hear how he said it. _Dyke_." She grimaced as the word fell from her lips in the same tone Ryder had used.

"Like it was a disease." She pressed her lips together until all that could be seen was a pale pink line. "He said I was confused and that he could help me clear everything up." Her brows drew together.

"Well, look, don't worry about it, can't please everyone." Andre said. Tori sighed and nodded.

"I guess so." She returned to her salad and spent the rest of lunch eating in silence and thinking about Jade. The rest of her day was uneventful and soon she was sitting in Jade's car on her way home.

"I'm sorry I was stupid and got lost and because of that you got suspended." Tori said quietly as Jade pulled into her driveway.

"Hey, it's not your fault. Daniels is a bastard and he deserved what I gave him," she sighed, "and I deserve my punishment." Tori nodded slowly not knowing what to say. Jade pushed her door open and stepped out of the car. Tori followed suit and they made their way up to the front door. Jade slipped her hand into Tori's and pulled her close before they reached the door.

"Do you want to go out tonight?" She asked. Tori couldn't breathe, she was so close she could smell the vanilla body spray Jade used and it was overwhelming her.

"Uhm yeah," She stuttered, "sure." Jade smiled.

"Good, because we have yet to actually go out on a date." She smirked and opened the door.

**Okay, I love this chapter so much because I am trying to demonstrate that being gay is considered normal and is not looked down upon by the majority of the population in this society. However, there are a few people who still think it is wrong and disgusting. **


End file.
